


Arya's Christmas Party

by lordbloodravens



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Party, F/M, Fluff, very kid friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:54:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27823324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordbloodravens/pseuds/lordbloodravens
Summary: When Arya accidentally knocks a tray full of wine on top of a waiter, she realizes it might be the best mistake she could have done to get out of a terribly boring party.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Comments: 4
Kudos: 76





	Arya's Christmas Party

Arya sighed while looking at her reflection in the mirror. _It’s only one night_ she told herself.

Outside the bathroom door all her family’s friends were gathered, all clad in fancy dresses and suits, the elders sucking up to her father to get more contracts this coming year, the younger ones trying to woo Sansa so she would go on a date with them. Mother would be posing as the perfect host, controlling the food and drinks while also showing the house to the wives of her husband’s partners. And Robb would be ready to entertain all the daughters that happened to come with their parents to the famous Stark Christmas party.

The smaller Stark kids would spend the night at some friends and until last year Arya had managed to do just that but this year mother had said she was already too old, she was seventeen, and that Sansa had been attending since fifteen so it was her time to play her part in the perfect Stark family gathering.

But she just felt so out of place. No one would bother talking to her, or if they did it was only to ask if Sansa was available. She sat for almost an hour in one the sofas playing on her phone while everyone ignored her. She had tried to grab one of the glasses of wine the waiters were carrying all over the place but her father noticed and sent her a death glare that made her put the wine down pretty fast. After that she went to the restroom to get a sense of herself.

And now there she was, looking at her reflection in the mirror. She wished Jon would be there. They would have laughed together and then the party wouldn’t have been so boring, but he had gone to study abroad, he said to help Robb manage the company together when father retired, but Arya knew he had gone very far instead of studying in the country to get out of mother’s sight.

Without her only ally there, Arya felt completely alone and was thinking about coming up with an excuse to tell her mother so she could leave to her room. She would tell her mother her head was hurting or something like that and then she would be relieved of playing the happy Stark daughter.

She got out of the restroom and when she opened the door she heard a loud crash of glass breaking and an annoyed scream. When she turned around she saw a waiter drenched in red wine with broken glasses laying on the floor.

“Oh shit! I’m so sorry, this is all my fault.” She apologized. As if this night couldn’t get worse.

“It’s alright ma’am, I was the one who didn’t see where I was going.”

Arya noticed it was a boy, maybe three or four years older than her. He reminded her of one of father’s acquaintances, Renly Baratheon, with his big blue eyes and spiky black hair, only thing missing was the beard.

“Don’t be stupid, it was obviously my fault. Let me help you clean.”

The boy laughed and that made Arya angry “What are you laughing about? You could be in trouble if mother sees you.”

“Sorry, I’m not used to be called stupid by a tiny rich girl.”

“Hey! Who are you calling tiny? Maybe you’re just freakishly tall!”

“Nope, I’m pretty average myself. And you’re even wearing heels, so that means you’re even smaller than you look like, hahaha.”

“Well, whatever I don’t need to stand here while a waiter insults me. I’ll tell someone to come clean up.” In that moment she looked at his hands “Wait, you have a serious cut there.” She took his hands on hers, they were calloused and rough and compared to hers they looked so big. The cut ran deep through all his palm. Good thing Arya Stark wasn’t afraid of blood.

“It’s ok it doesn’t hurt.”

“I can’t let you go on pouring wine to those people with a wound like that.” She yanked him “Come, we’re going to the kitchen, I think we have some band aids there.”

She guided him to the kitchen, though he probably knew already where it was since that’s from where the waiters would get the refill bottles.

“So this is your house? Are you a Stark?” asked the waiter.

“What? Oh yeah, I live here. I’m the Stark sister no one wants to date. Not even to get on the good side of my dad.”

“That’s a shame.” Arya thought she heard him say but when she asked he said “Nothing.”

She sat him on one of the chairs they used to eat breakfast and went looking in the cabinet she was sure they put the medical supplies in. At least some alcohol to clean the wound would suffice. She found the band aids but she couldn’t find any alcohol. So she took one of the bottles of vodka waiting to be poured at the party thinking that should work.

“Are you seriously going to clean the cut with cheap vodka?”

“Excuse you, this vodka probably costs more than what they’re paying you for tonight.”

“You’re right, I forgot who I was dealing with. I’m used to parties that run with the cheapest and most soul destroying rum and vodka.”

Arya took the cap off and threw some liquid over the wound. The waiter made a hiss sound but didn’t actually scream.

“So how are they like?” Arya asked while putting on the band aid.

“What thing?”

“The parties! I’ve always wanted to go to a crazy college party. All we ever get are these fancy things where everyone is a boring adult.”

“Well it’s not like I’ve known you for much time but I think you would fit better in a college party than in one of these things.”

“You mean it? I always felt so dissociated from the formal part of the Stark family. I love when we it’s just us in the morning breakfast or playing some old board game in game night. But as soon as the company needs it, we all have to put our “Formal” face and act like fancy important people, which I hate.” Arya wasn’t sure why she was telling all this to a waiter whose name she didn’t even know, but it felt like a relief letting all that out.

“I can understand that. Your family has a reputation to uphold and they have to pretend to maintain it, but it can be very unpleasant having to fake it all the time.”

“Yeah, sometimes I wish we were just a normal family.”

In that moment her mother and the party organizer entered the kitchen. “Arya!” “Waters!” they both called at the same time.

“Arya, what are you doing here?”

“Waters, shouldn’t you be passing the Dornish red at this hour? And why is your uniform all stained?”

In that moment Arya talked “Sorry, that was my fault. I accidentally knocked a door on him and spilled all the wine on him. And he also got a cut on his hand so I helped him with some band aids.”

“Oh thank you Arya, but next time is better if you call an adult.” Said her mother, looking mildly stressed.

“Waters you can’t keep serving like that. It’s better if you retire for the rest of the night. Don’t worry I won’t take it out of your pay, just don’t tell the others.”

“Thank you so much Mr. Dondarrion. My lips are sealed.”

“Well if it’s all settled now, Arya why don’t you go join your sister? I think there’s some people she would like to introduce you.”

Arya really didn’t want to leave the waiter, whose last name she had learnt was Waters. But she didn’t dare oppose her mother in this, not when she had been breaking her back all the previous months over this party.

“Sure mother, I’ll be there in a second.”

Mr. Dondarrion and her mother left to go to the wine cellar, leaving them alone again.

“Listen we don’t have much time, follow me.”

Arya had just the craziest idea.

* * *

Gendry was following the strange rich girl through the kitchen stairs into the second floor. The second floor that was completely prohibited to waiters like him. At first he thought she wanted to do something naughty but they barely knew each other and yes, he thought she was pretty, but he wasn’t going to make out with a girl he had known twenty minutes ago, at her house, with her parents throwing a party downstairs.

“So… where are we going?”

“Shhh, you will see.”

They walked a long hallway with doors in both sides, until she finally stopped in front of one.

“This is my brother Jon’s room. He isn’t here, so he won’t notice we took anything. Come!”

He entered the room, a big and elegant room, proper of the son of a big company president. But Gendry had no idea what they would be doing there.

Then the girl, Arya her name was Arya, let go of his hand and opened the closet. She started throwing everything that was in her path into the carpeted floor until she said “Found one! Here, put this on.”

She handed him a suit in a plastic bag. “Jon is definitely leaner than you, it would be ideal to use one of Robb’s suits but then he would notice. On the other hand, no one comes here since Jon left, especially not mother. C’mon try it on.”

“Are you crazy? You want me to sneak in to the party where everyone already saw me as a waiter?”

“Yes! I know it might seem dangerous but if you dress elegant and then we go outside to the garden where the light is pretty bad, the other waiters won’t recognize you. And believe me the rest of the guests don’t even look at the serving people faces, they won’t remember you.”

“So that’s how the other half sees us. Seems a little dangerous to me, if Dondarrion finds out he will have my head in a silver platter where your party guests will then slurp my eyes out.”

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just paint that image in my head. Go on, try on the suit. That way we can keep talking and I won’t be bored to death in this party. Do you have somewhere else to go?”

“Not really. Oh well, what the hell! Give me the suit. But look away, I don’t want you to see me naked.”

“Relax, I wasn’t planning on watching you get dress. I am a lady after all.” She said it as a joke but Gendry had mixed opinions about how ladylike this rich girl was. “Go on, quickly, my mother can’t find out I’m missing from the party.”

“As m’lady commands.”

He put on the suit and it was a little tight on the shoulders. Her brother had obviously been leaner and Gendry knew he had a pretty big back. Nevertheless that was the most expensive clothes he had wear in his entire life.

There was a mirror in one of the walls and he took a look at himself. “Not bad, not at all bad.” Said Arya. “Good luck your shoes match, because that would have been harder.”

“What do we do with the stained uniform?”

“We throw it into the back of Jon’s closet and later in the week when my parents aren’t home I’ll take it to a dry cleaning. Give me your number and I’ll text you the address so you can go pick it up.”

“You do think about everything right? Pretty clever girl.”

“If you ain’t pretty you at least got to be smart, right?”

Gendry was going to say something about how he thought she was really pretty but didn’t have the balls to do it.

“Are we ready?” Arya asked.

“I think I’m as ready as I can be.”

“Ok, we’re going for the kitchen stairs again. I’ll go first to make sure there’s no one there and then we go fast through the living room into the garden. There’s some people there, mostly smokers so we can blend in.”

“What if we run into your mother or Mr. Dondarrion?” This was fun, but Gendry’s work was at stake.

“We’ll just pray we don’t.”

Gendry gulped. But he was having so much fun with this girl, he decided to take on the risk.

“Let’s go then.”

* * *

Arya went down the stairs, carefully listening in case her mother or the waiter’s boss were around. Luckily the kitchen was empty, so she made him signs for him to go down.

Her heart was racing even though it wasn’t her job the one on the line. If anything happened, she would use all her power and the love her father had for her to make sure the waiter didn’t get in trouble.

“Ok, now is the hard part. Hold my hand.” He took her hand in hers. “Wait!! Better not, if my sister sees me holding hands with someone she will make a fuzz and everyone will notice you.” So she had to let go of his hand, even if she really liked the contact on her skin.

With the sound of the music and people talking, no one was really paying attention to who came out of the kitchen, but it was a pretty big house with an enormous living room that could fit a hundred people easily. They had to navigate it from one extreme to the other to reach the glass doors that gave way to the garden. The regular guests weren’t a problem since they would hardly notice Arya, let alone the waiter. Damn she had to ask for his name soon. The problem was encountering either her mother who would recognize him or Sansa, who would make a bigger deal out of it than it was.

Arya was aware how hot the guy was. And if she was honest, she had taken a small peak when he was getting changed and he was also ripped. Plus he had the most striking blue eyes and a jawline that could cut a diamond in half. Arya knew Sansa would take one look at him and would want to know everything about him. Not to take her for herself, she wasn’t like that. But she had been desperate for Arya to get a boyfriend so the two would have something to talk about. Arya hadn’t forgotten when her sister asked her if she was a lesbian.

So now they were out of the kitchen and facing the sea of party guests. “Follow my lead, don’t look anyone in the eyes and just keep walking, and don’t ever stop until you reach the darkness of the garden, ok?”

The waiter nodded and together they started crossing the room. Arya had never been comfortable in heels but now she felt more conscious than ever, since she was trying to walk at a faster pace than normal. In one moment she almost trips, but the waiter caught her by the arm. She thanked the gods.

A few more steps and they would be finally out of the lights and the dangerous people when suddenly a head of long red hair turned around and faced them.

“Arya! I’ve been looking for you all night! There’s someone I want you to meet. This is Edric Dayne, his family owns Starfall Company.” She said all that before noticing Arya was with someone. “Oh I didn’t realize you were already with a Baratheon.”

So she too saw the resemblance. But she wasn’t going to let that opportunity go. “Yes this is, this is…”

“Gendry Baratheon, a pleasure to meet you.” The waiter shook Sansa’s hand with grace.

“Where were you hiding? I swear I would have remembered your face had I seen it before. Are you family with Uncle Robert?”

“He’s like a distant cousin, my father’s father and his father were second cousins. I just arrived, I had to work until late at the company so I just got here a while ago. But I’ve been talking here to Arya and we were just going outside so I can smoke a cigarette without bothering anyone.”

“Oh that’s great. I was worried Arya would be bored. I’m glad you two connected. Come Edric, you can talk to my father now, I see Mr. Bolton finally stopped talking to him. Bye Arya.” She leaned close to her ear and told her “Be careful.”

Arya felt a chill down her spine because she didn’t know if Sansa knew about Gendry or if she just was being a protective sister. Either way she hurried to the garden with Gendry behind her.

The outside part of the party was a lot quieter since the music barely got out the house. There were a few torches around the edges so the place wouldn’t be in complete darkness, but you could only make the silhouettes of people and the waiters didn’t make so many rounds there.

“I didn’t know you could lie like that.” Said Arya after they were settled in a parapet. The Stark house was on top of a hill with a view of the entire city at their feet. The fresh air did wonders for Arya’s flushed face.

“It came as a surprise for me too. Usually I’m really blunt, or at least that’s what my mother says, but right now I think my fight or flight instinct acted and fighting meant lying to you sister.”

They stared at the view of the city for a moment before Gendry talked again “Who is this Baratheon I was being compared to? Does he look like me?”

“Well he’s my father’s best friend and at first I thought you looked a lot like his younger brother too, so yeah there’s a huge resemblance.”

Arya noticed that made Gendry a lot quieter, almost as if he had retired into his own head. She thought maybe she had said something wrong when he finally spoke again.

“You know, I never knew my father. My mom raised me alone and it was always a great mystery to me. I wonder how I would feel if I found out it’s a rich guy from these parts of the city.”

“Well? How would that made you feel?” they were crossing a pretty delicate territory right now but Arya was glad he could trust her to talk so openly.

“I guess pretty angry. My mom had to work two jobs to keep me fed and this guy who has all the money in the world decides to just abandon us.”

“That’s a pretty shitty thing to do.” Was all Arya could think of saying.

“Yeah it is. Like no offense to your family or you, but being rich makes some people act like jerks. I’ve been to my fair share of elegant parties as a waiter and I always find something that puts me off.”

“Care to tell me some?”

“Well you wouldn’t believe me if I told you but still. One time I was at this sixteen birthday party and I swear I saw the birthday girl’s mom making out with who I can swear was her twin brother. They weren’t even discreet about it. I had to go to the basement to get more champagne bottles and there they were going at each other. It was pretty heavy.”

“Oh my gods. Did they notice you?” That was pretty repulsive, Arya didn’t know people could be that weird.

“I know they heard someone entering but I think they couldn’t figure out my face, so I was saved. I didn’t tell anyone about it but I’m still a little traumatized.”

“That’s some heavy stuff you had to deal with.”

“Yeah. Anyways I’m happy you’re so cool and normal. Well, maybe just a tad crazy with your plans but in the best way.”

Arya laughed and thanked the gods for having spilled that wine over this wonderful boy that saved her night.

She could see his eyes shining with the city lights underneath them and she felt such a strong desire to kiss his mouth. But she had never kissed someone before and she was afraid he was only hanging out with her to crash a rich people party.

That doubt that every friend she made that wasn’t in the same economic circle as she was there just for her money and to get close to her family scared her a lot. That’s why when she was little and went to the park, she would always lie about her name. And in school she tried to not stand out so much, even though it had been really difficult when Sansa was her sister, the most popular and beloved, almost Instagram influencer girl who everyone wanted to be friends with.

Gendry hadn’t treated her any different, but that fear always lingered in her mind. She wasn’t pretty enough for someone to talk to her if it wasn’t to get close to her money. All this thoughts were banging at her when she suddenly realized Gendry had been talking to her.

“Hey! Earth to Arya. What were you thinking about?”

“Sorry, I just zoned out. What were you saying?”

“I was asking you if you already knew what you’re gonna study after you graduate?”

“Oh that. I’m not sure yet but I would like to apply in universities abroad. Particularly one close to my brother Jon.”

“So that means you’re leaving? I knew it couldn’t be that good.” He sounded disappointed.

“What do you mean?”

“Well it was so rare to meet an awesome girl like you, one that was fun and a little bit crazy, but of course you had to leave. It would have been too good to be true.”

“Hey I still haven’t decided anything. It’s just Jon was my favorite brother and since he left, the house has been really lonely for me.”

“I could keep you company. Wait! No, I mean, like we can keep seeing each other, hang out. There’s some really nice places I’m sure a rich girl like you doesn’t even know they exist here in the city. Oh gods we have to go to Myles’ Pizzeria, it’s the best place in town. And I have some friends that play in a band, if you tell them you like their stuff they can give us some free passes for their gigs. There’s so much we could do together.”

“You really mean it?” Arya couldn’t believe her luck, she was already looking forward to doing all those things with Gendry, a boy she barely knew.

“Yes, of course. I would love to show you a face of the city you’ve never seen before. If you let me, m’lady.”

“Oh please don’t call me that. But I’m going to take your invitation, please break me out of this stone tower.”

“As m’lady commands.” He flashed her a big, beautiful smile that formed dimples in his cheeks and Arya couldn’t help but to smile too.

**Author's Note:**

> I know I have a bunch of incomplete gendrya fics but I just couldnt resist writing this one-shot to match the holidays. Hope you guys like it :D


End file.
